Chương 4: The Worst House Move

By the time Maddie got back, Hale and Ryan were sitting there in a daze, staring at the still-smoking ruins. Ryan practically shrieked the moment he saw her.

"Can you believe this?! He's the one who caused this whole mess! He actually dared to cast a fireball with just one hand!" Hale was getting scolded like a child by a preteen, but he could only sit there in dead silence and take it. After all, he really was the one who had caused this catastrophe. His Mana had plummeted from 3, 240 down to a measly 562, and his entire body felt like jelly.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to." He hadn't expected his very first attempt at magic to blow up in his face like this, literally. His entire understanding of magic came from movies and a few famous fantasy novels, where anyone born a mage automatically knew how to control their powers. Maddie didn't look particularly angry. Then again, she rarely showed any emotion beyond her usual calm, stoic expression. She walked over, helped Hale to his feet, and asked, "Are you hurt, Master?" Hale shook his head.

Aside from his slightly singed clothes and a reddened left palm, he didn't feel any pain. He was just utterly exhausted. Maddie looked up at the gaping hole in the mansion.

"We can't stay here anymore."

"Huh? I mean, it looks bad, but I've been checking it out. The blast didn't hit any of the load-bearing pillars on the right side of the house. The first and second floors seem completely untouched..." Hale had majored in civil engineering in his past life, so he had a decent amount of confidence in his assessment. But Maddie simply shook her head.

"The smoke rising from this place will attract uninvited guests."

"Oh..." Hale had temporarily forgotten that he was currently a public enemy hated by the entire world. Since Maddie put it that way, they had no choice but to say goodbye to the place they had called home for the past two months. Hale had assumed they would be leaving by carriage—after all, he couldn't exactly expect Maddie to carry both him and Ryan and fly away, right? But in his time exploring the grounds, he hadn't seen a single horse. He had, however, noticed a strange shaped carriage parked in the backyard.

The vehicle's passenger cabin looked almost like a standard carriage, but the front lacked any rigging to attach it to a horse. Instead, there was a driver's seat and a steering mechanism shaped like a two-pronged fork. Maddie climbed into the driver's seat and gripped the two steering levers. Then, to Hale's utter amazement, the vehicle moved and pulled up right by the entrance. Hale let out a shocked gasp.

"It runs without horses?! This is literally a car! They already have cars in this era?" Is this world not as primitive as I thought? Maddie said, "This is a magic vehicle. Only those who can manipulate fire can drive it. Did you forget that too?" Hale walked a full circle around the novel machine, even crouching down to peek underneath, but he couldn't find an engine anywhere.

"How does it actually work?"

"It was invented by the Elites of the Kingdom of Ember. They don't exactly share their designs with the outside world." With that, they began packing up their essentials. Ryan looked the most heartbroken; the kid had built himself a cozy little base in his attic room, only to be forced to leave most of his things behind. He stared wistfully at the piles of books he hadn't even gotten a chance to finish reading.

"Can we ever come back here?" he asked, his voice laced with regret. Maddie replied, "As long as no one finds out this was General Hale's private estate, we can return after some more time." Only then did the boy reluctantly turn away. Hale asked gloomily, "Where are we going anyway? Do I have another mansion hidden away in the woods somewhere?" Maddie answered, "You used to have three, but the Berula military uncovered two of them while they were hunting us down. This was the last one.

For now, we have no choice but to lay low in the city of Raveno."

"Where's Raveno?"

"It's a border city belonging to Berula, and it's also where your battle against Elias took place. Raveno is the fief of Marquis Leasser, so Elias is currently recovering from his injuries there. Anyone hunting us will assume we'd steer clear of his doorstep, so they'll be less on guard." Hale snapped his fingers.

"Ah, the eye of the storm is the calmest place, right?" Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"That is a very clever way to put it, Master," Maddie said, offering a rare smile.

"But why aren't we going to Seki? You said I used to be a General for Seki, right?" Ryan let out a mocking scoff.

"Your loss against Berula forced Seki to sign a treaty surrendering the Holy Land—a territory they've been fighting over for years. You're a wanted criminal in Seki now, too. Going back there is just as suicidal. At least in Berula, fewer people know what your face actually looks like." Hale slumped his shoulders in defeat and climbed into the vehicle.

The interior of the magic vehicle felt a bit roomier than it looked from the outside, but since it had to hold all the essential belongings of three people, there was barely any legroom left. Without any shock-absorption technology, the uneven forest path made for a brutal ride. Cramped in the tight space, Hale felt his stomach churning after just half an hour, as if his breakfast were about to make a violent comeback.

Opening the window didn't help either; there was nothing to look at except a gloomy, monotonous blur of gray trees. In stark contrast, Ryan sat there perfectly unfazed, reading his book while the vehicle bounced up and down violently. Finding it impossible to strike up a conversation with the boy, Hale had no choice but to crawl toward the front to pester Maddie, desperately needing a distraction from the nausea rising in his throat.

Maddie's hands were deftly working the steering levers, her eyes locked on the road ahead. It was only now that Hale noticed both of her hands looked completely human. When he had first woken up, one of her arms had been a dragon claw. Her dragon tail, however, was still very much present. Seeing that she seemed to be in a relatively decent mood, Hale asked cautiously:"Aren't you mad at me for destroying our place? Come to think of it, I've never seen you get angry."

"That was your mansion, Master. You have the right to do whatever you wish with it."

"But I caused a huge mess for us. I really didn't expect magic to be so dangerous..." Maddie glanced at him and let out a soft sigh.

"I know you are anxious to regain your strength, Master. But if you attempt to cast magic with only one hand, you risk draining every last drop of Mana from your body. Please, be more careful." Hale scratched his head.

"It's not really that I'm impatient, just... a bit curious. But has there really never been anyone who mastered one-handed magic before?" Maddie shook her head.

"It's not impossible, it's just inefficient. You can still manifest magic with one hand if you rely strictly on your internal Mana, but it is far from enough to be viable in combat. That is why Mages value their hands more than their own lives. That man, Elias, knew this all too well. That is why he..." At that, Maddie's grip on the levers suddenly tightened. The magic vehicle, which had been cruising at a steady pace, abruptly surged forward.

Hale lost his balance with a startled yelp, his back slamming hard against the rear wall of the cabin. Realizing she had temporarily lost control of her strength, Maddie immediately slowed the vehicle back down. Hale couldn't help but notice that despite always wearing a stoic, expressionless mask, this dragon maid cared deeply for the original "Hale Wallace."

Otherwise, she wouldn't have stayed by his side when the entire world turned its back on him, nor would she have faithfully tended to him when he was reduced to a mere cripple. He suddenly felt conflicted. He didn't know which was more cruel: keeping her in the dark while occupying the body of the person she cared about, or bluntly telling her that her real master was already dead.

"Maddie, actually... I'm not really your master." Hale decided to confess. He was never good at handling guilt. However, Maddie simply replied, "You are my master."

"What I mean is, the current me and the past me are not the same person. Do you know the concept of a soul? The soul inside this body right now is different from before. Only the physical shell is the same."

"Are you referring to your memory loss, Master?" Are a soul and a memory the same thing? Hale suddenly found himself at a total loss for how to explain it. Oh, whatever. Think what you want, he thought. He was stuck in this new identity regardless. After about two hours of driving, the surrounding trees finally began to shift from a bleak gray to familiar shades of brown and green. The thick fog no longer hovered overhead, parting to reveal a clear blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds.

Another hour passed, and they finally merged onto a much larger main road. The moment they hit the highway, Maddie tucked her dragon tail away. Now, aside from her unusually tall stature, she looked entirely human. Curious, Hale asked, "Why do you usually leave your dragon parts out when you can just hide them? Aren't they a bit... cumbersome?" Maddie replied, "Concealing them consumes energy." In other words, when no outsiders were around, she preferred to let them out just to be a bit more comfortable.

Hearing this, Ryan suddenly chimed in from behind his book, "But you shouldn't transform too often either. I read in a book that if a dragonborn undergoes a full dragonification or becomes too accustomed to their draconic features, they can never turn back into a human." The vehicle kept rolling continuously, but by nightfall, they still hadn't cleared the forested roads. The nighttime temperature outside dropped drastically.

Choosing not to leave the vehicle, they simply moved some luggage outside to create a bit more sleeping space. Maddie heated up a few small stones, which they tucked inside their clothes to keep warm while they slept. The next morning, after the sun had climbed high into the sky, they finally exited the forest. Following the main road led them to a vast, sprawling grassland. In the distance, a massive stone wall began to loom into view.

A long line of travelers and carriages had already formed, waiting to pass through the city gates. Numerous guards patrolled the area, meticulously checking everyone's travel passes. Hale asked nervously, "Are we going to pass the inspection?" Maddie replied, "I have already made preparations. Not many people know your actual face, Master, but to be safe, stay inside the cabin and pull your cloak over your head. If anyone asks, pretend you are terribly ill and squeeze out a few coughs.

Ryan, you sit up front with me." They rearranged their seating quickly. Hale was forced to sit dead still inside, not even daring to crack the window open, so he could only strain his ears to catch whatever was happening outside. The vehicle came to a halt. Pressing his ear against the door, Hale heard an incredibly sweet, gentle female voice, accompanied by the lively, bright voice of a young boy, answering the guard's questions.

"... Yes, my husband is quite ill. We fled to Solvirua for refuge when the Seki army arrived, and now we are on our way back. Here are our travel passes."

"Mr. Guard, my father is really, really sick. Could you please check us quickly?" Hale practically had to dig his ears out twice to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Was that seriously the cold, stoic Maddie and the grumpy, cynical Ryan? Footsteps approached the vehicle. Hale immediately curled in on himself and began hacking out a series of heavy coughs. A guard merely pulled the curtain aside, took a brief glance, and waved them through the gates.